Originally Posted by
DenverBrian
DEN can have significant differences in taxi time depending on the runway availability and winds. It's designed so that you're usually landing "into" the gate areas, so taxi time is relatively short.
Right. And UA actually does have historic information about the prevailing winds and strength on a seasonal basis. Winds are commonly stronger later in the afternoon after temperature gradients have formed, for example.
But, generally, it's just "we expect more congestion on the taxiway at a peak time."
Originally Posted by
DenverBrian
But yesterday, for instance, we landed to the north using runway 34R instead of the normal 35L or 35R. This landed us about as far away from Concourse B as you can get, adding 10-15 minutes of taxi time.
34R is nearly parallel to 35L/R. I suspect this wasn't weather-related, but rather traffic. The point stands, though -- UA has to take taxi times into account when they plan the schedule.
Incidentally, this is why you can seemingly spend forever taxiing, only to end up arriving at your destination on time. The pilots didn't (usually) go faster than the originally-filed flight plan; it's just that the airline padded their schedule because they expected the long taxi.